Top military officials of South Korea, the United States and Japan have held talks over joint efforts to ensure regional peace and stability, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Wednesday.

Seoul's JCS Chairman Gen. Jeong Kyeong-doo and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford and Adm. Katsutoshi Kawano, attended the meeting at the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) headquarters in Hawaii on Tuesday (local time).

Outgoing PACOM chief Adm. Harry Harris and his successor, Adm. Philip Davidson, also joined the meeting. Such three-way talks were last held in October 2017.

"(They) discussed multilateral cooperation in establishing military readiness to promote peace and stability in Northeast Asia and prepare for all possible contingencies," the JCS said in a joint press release.

At the talks, Dunford reaffirmed that Washington will provide extended deterrence to ensure the security of its key Asian allies. Extended deterrence refers to the U.S. commitment to defend its ally by mobilizing all military capabilities against an adversary's aggression.

The talks came amid fast-paced diplomacy aimed at denuclearizing North Korea and establishing a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. (Yonhap)